The Rugby Player’s Fear of Penalty: History and Spread of Sport

The importance of the penalty to rugby union is a reflection of its origins in the mid-Victorian English middle-classes. In general, the English leadership of rugby did not want it to “diffuse” and fear of the penalty, both off and on the field, became one of the sport's defining characteristics. This paper argues that the term “diffusion” is not sufficient to describe the process of expansion of a sport ; the ways in which it is disseminated by its advocates is also crucial.